Mine-door.



J. L. DINWIDDIE & A. F. BRAUN.

Patented Nov. 17, 1908.

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MINE DOOR. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 24, 1908.

Patented Nov. 17, 1908.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

INVENTURS WITNEEEEE: W fla ATE.

UNITED STACEIsrATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH L. DINWIDDIE AND ALBERT F. BRAUN, OF CARLINVILLE, ILLINOIS.

MINE-DOOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 17, 1908.

Application filed February 24, 1908. Serial No. 417,355.

and is-especially applicable for use in connection with railways, and particularly those laid in mines and tunnels, and is to be classed with closures designed to be operated by the impact or weight of a passing car or train.

The more important objects of the improvements which form the subject matter of this application are :to provide a simple and efiicient mechanism for operating a door or similar closure when associated with a railway; to furnish a mechanism so arranged as to operate the closure by the impact of the wheels of a passing car or train, or by the weight of the rolling stock, or the combination of both; and to supply such an apparatus that will operate with equal efliciency whatever the speed of the approaching car.

Other objects of our invention are to provide a door operating mechanism that will be entirely automatic in its action and thus not require constant supervision; that will operate alike upon the ap roach of the car from either direction, an to supply a .de-' vice so applied to the closure as to cause the latter to swing always in a direction away from the ap roa'ching train.

- Further 0 jects are to provide a door opening mechanism embodying novel mechanical movements and cooperating parts which will produce a gradual acceleration of the door movements, thus acting to the best advantage. in overcoming the inertia of the gate or door valves without producing unnecessary shock to the structures; to supply an appliance that can be used in con nection-with one or both rails, thus lesseningthe cost when only one rail is equipped with the o erating mechanism, a plan which may be a vantageously followed when the rails and consequently the rolling stock are of comparatively light weight; and to furnish a simple, strong and durable appliance admirably adapted to the needs of such devices and one that can be installed at a moderate expense.

We accomplish the above and other minor results by employing the mechanical construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings forming a part of this application,

in which Figure 1 is a plan view of a mine door and a railway track equipped with our automatic devices, a portion of the track mechanism upon one side of the door being omitted; Fig. 2 is alside elevation of the structures illustrated in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 22of Fig. 1

Fig. 4 is a detail showing in side elevation the trip bar and a portion of the angle bar,

to illustrate the relation of their respective apertures; Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view, enlarged, showing one of the rock arms and adjacent structures; Fig. 6 is a section on the line 66 of Fig. 5; Fig. 7 is a side elevation of the trip rock arm and attachments; Fig. 8 is an end view, partly in section, of thestructures shown in Fig. 7; Fig. 9 is a fragmentary view, showing a lower corner of the door frame with adjacent structures, in front elevation, some portions being in section, and Figs. 10 and 11 are views of the parts shown in Fig. 9 as seen in the direction of the arrows at and b, respectively.

Referring to the details of the drawings, the numeral 15 indicates the rails and 16 the cross ties of a railway, associated with a gate or door'consisting of two valves or leaves 17 18, secured by hinges 19, 20, to posts 21. Each post is set in a socket 22 formed in the upper face of a cast block or box, the upper ends of'the posts being connected by a lintel 24. The said blocks 23 are furnished with sockets 25 in their under surfaces and into these are received short blocks or posts 26, which aline with the hinge posts 21, and rest upon the ends of across timber 27, extending beneath the track and constituting a sill. The upper hinge 19 presents no unusual features, being simply of the strap variety, its pintle having a bearin in a suitable socket 1n the lintel 24. The lower hinge of each valve, however, has an elongated pintle 28 upon which is mounted a bevel pinion 29 supported upon a projection 23 formed integral with the block23, the lower end of the hubof said pinion being adapted to engage ball bearings 29 in said projection. These structures are best shownin Figs. 3 and 9.

The pinion 29 meshes with a se ent gear 30 mounted on a horizontal roc shaft 31, extending transversely to the track beneath the door and above the sill 27, passlng through the blocks, which thus constitute boxes for the shaft. In these boxes are located roller bearings 32, the 'endsof the shaft projecting beyond the rails upon both sides of the track and carrying upon each extremity an incomplete wheel consisting of two segments 33, formed integral with each other and their hub, and having duplicate slots 34, throu h which ass bar-levers 35. These -bars or evers are oosely mounted at their. inner ends u on the shaft 31 and after projecting throng the said slots 34 are provided w1th counter weights 36, 'slidably m0unted u on ,the said levers, and having set screws or securing them in adjusted position. These weights are of suflicient mass to overbalance and close the gates when opened in the manner hereinafter described.

.In the initial position, shown clearly in Fig.

2, the counter-weights rest upon the ground or any suitable support.

Adjacent to the track rail 15, upon one side of the track, is arranged a door operating member, consisting of an angle bar 37, extending in both directions away from the door, bein continuous from one end of the rail attac cuts to the other. Where said member crosses above the said rock shaft 31, it is operatively attached thereto by an arm 38 (Flgs. 3 and 9) pivoted to the said angl! bar or member 37, by a bolt 39. The lower end of said arm 38 is adjustably fixed on said shaft by (Figs. 9 and 10) provided with a V-shaped notch to. engage the shaft and secured by clamp bolts 41. The said angle bar extends to a sulficient distance upon both sides of the door to afford time for setting up the reuired mechanical movements and transmitting them to the door opening mechanism before the car reaches that point. The angle bar 37 is, supported above the head of the track rail 15, to which it is adjacent, by a series of spaced rock-arms 42, pivoted at tl. :ir lower ends upon pins 43 mounted in a chair or bracket 44, said pins being secured therein by cotter pins 45, shown in the detail, Fig.6. The ends of said brackets are furnished with jaws 46, which en age the outer rail-flange, and are secured 5y hookbolts 47, passing beneath the rails to engage the inner rail-flange.

ThIOQ'gh the upper end of each rock-arm 42 is di'iven a pm 48 received in slots 49, formed in the opposite sides of a channeled bracket-box 50, secured to the outer face of a clamp piece 40,-

ithe vertical web or flange of the angle bar 37 by bolts 51. In order to avoid excessive wear and reduce friction we prefer to provide the ends of said pins 48 with roller bearings, not shown in the drawings, since devices of this class are well understood by those skilled in the art, and can be readily applied where requisite.

A single an 1e bar 37 adjacent to one of the rails is-sliflicient for the proper working of the apparatus. We prefer however, for various reasons, to install an angle bar '37 and attachments upon the op osite track rail, as shown in Fig. 1, the on y difference being that the bar 37 extends only to the rock arm nearest the door, said arm being designated 42", upon both sides of the track. Thus there are two of the bars 37 one upon either side of the door, but not directly connected with the immediate door 0 crating gear, although said bars 37 may e made continuous and operatively connected with the rock shaft 31, in which case there would be two continuous bars 37. The installation of the. operative mechanism upon both sides of the track is especially advantageous in the case of unusually long approaches which would be necessary in railways where the trains were run at a high speed.

In the bracket boxes corresponding with the rock-arms 42, said boxes being designated 50*, a round hole 49 (Fig. 4) replaces the slot formed in the other brackets so that there is no lost motion at this point and a rod 52' takes the place of the pins 43 upon which the other rock arms are pivoted. The said rod extends between the arms 42 upon opposite sides ofthe track and thus serves to transmit the motion of the bar'37' to the bar 37 upon the opposite side of the track, the

arms being keyed fast to therod. The angle bars 37, 37", are all operated in a-\similar manner, by means of a trip bar 53, extending alongside the angle bar wlth which it coacts, passing through the bracket boxes'50, and provided with a hole 54 and slots 55 for the passage of the pins 48. Each trip bar extends beyond the ends of the angle bars farthest from the gate, which may be termed the approach end and is supported near its extremity by a trip arm 56 carried upon pivot pins 43, in brackets 44, similar to those supporting the rock-arms 42. The upper ends 57, of said arms, project above the rail head and are of pointed ovoid shape, formed by elliptical curves 58, presenting an abutment against which the tread of the advancing wheel impinges, the weight of the wheel rocking the arm upon its center in a manner readily understood, the special form' of the head 57 causing the arm to be operated with equal facility when the wheel approaches from either direction. The trip bar is furnished with a sole 59 for a pivot bolt 60 terminates at some point a: before reaching the rock arm 42*.

In order to insure proper engagement of the wheel tread with the head 57 of the trip 56, it is sometimes necessary to supply a rail with a head modified by being reduced in width, especially upon the inner side, as shown at61 in Figs. 6, 8 and 9, thus permitting the face of the wheel to extend further beyond the median line of the rail, or,

in other words, to allow the angle bars 37 and 37 to be brought nearer the wheel flange.

To aid in arriving at a proper understanding of the cooperative action of the angle bars and their. corresponding trip bars, the

mutual relation of the apertures in the respeetive members is set out in Fig. 4. Inspection of the drawing will show that all the bracket-boxes 50 reached by the trip bar 53 are furnished with slots 49, and these increase in length by gradnations from the left to the right in sand figure, or, in other words, in a direction away from the door. The corresponding apertures in the trip bar,

on the contrary, diminish in length in the same'direction, the aperture in the bar, corresponding with thelongest slot of the angle bar being a round hole 54, in which the pivot pin has no lost motion.

When the trip arm 56 is engaged by a passing wheel it will be rocked upon its center 43, moving the trip bar 53 longitudinally and rocking all the arms 42 in the same direction, but, owing to the lost motion er- 40 mitted by the slots, the angle iron wil be I moved longitudinally to a limited extent only until the wheel advances to the position of the next arm; neither will all the arms 42 move through eq ual angles, but will each as- 45 sume a less inchnation than the preceding, the arm nearest the door inclining the least. As a result, then, of the action of the car wheel upon the trip, we have all the rock arms 42 leaning toward the door at varying angles, and the angle bar inclined upward in the same direction. As the weight of the car is carried along the angle bar, the several arms are rocked further and further over, no arm reaching its maximum depression until the wheel of the car is directly over it.

.The result of the two graduated movements thus described, transmitted throu h the arm 38, shaft 31 and gears 30 and 29, will be to swing the door leaves'steadily and gradually until by the time the car has reached the position of the last rock-arm the door will be widely opened so that the car or train may pass, the weight of the cars upon the continuous bar 37 and the cooperating bars 37 holding them in depressed position until the 5 last wheel has cleared the trip at the furtherapproach. When the shaft 31 is turned in the manner described, the counter weights 36 situated towards the approaching car will be lifted by engagement of the lower end of the slots 34: in the sectors 33 with their weight levers 35, the opposite weights remaining unmoved. As soon as the weight of the car is removed from the an le bars 37, 37, the said counter weights wil restore the door valves to their closed position.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, is

1. In an apparatus for the purpose stated the combination with a hinged door and a railway track, of a door operating member arranged adjacent to one of the rails of said track and having its upper edge normally above said track rail, said member being provided with a series of graduated slots, 9. tri a trip bar, said bar having a -series of grad uated slots, rock-arms supporting said member and trip bar and engaging said slots, operative means for said door, and connection between said member and said doo. operative means.

2. In an apparatus for the purpose specified, the combination with a hinged door and a railway track, of a door operating member provided with a series of spaced raduated slots, a trip, a trip bar also provi ed with a series of spaced graduated slots, rock-arms engaging said slots, means for operating said door, and connection between said operating member and the door operating means.

3. In an apparatus for the purpose specified, the combination with a hinged door, and a railway track, of door operating means consisting of a door, hinges for the door, a pinion mounted on the pintle of one hinge, a shaft, a gear carried on said shaft and engaging said pinion, weighted levers mounted on said shaft, an operating member arranged adjacent to and extending above one of said rails, connection between said member and said shaft, a trip, a trip bar and rock arms engaging said member and said trip bar.

4. In an apparatus for the purpose specified, the combination with a hinged door and a railway track, of a door operating member, provided with a series of spaced and graduated slots, atrip, a trip bar provided with a series of graduated slots, door operating means consisting of a shaft, a gear on said shaft, a hinge having a pintle, a pinion on said pintle meshing with said gear, weighted levers attached to said shaft, and an arm fixed on said shaft and having pivotal connection with said operating member.

5. In an apparatus for the purpose specified, the combination with a hinged door, and a railway track, of a door operatin member provided with a series of spaced and p Qradnated slots, a tri arranged to be oper- In testimony whereof we affix our signanleddby the wheefis 0 d5 car;1 a trilp llmr prlotures in the presence of two witnesses.

vide wit 1 space an t m uate s ots, t e

said slots in the trip barfirranged to register with the slots in the door 0 eratingmember,

rock arms en aging said sfots, door operat- Witnesses.

ing means an connection between said mem- O. H. LOEHR,

her and the door operating means. Tnos. P. Ross. I 

